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(No Model.)

G. E. WRIGHT. DEVICE FOR PLUGGING SPRINKLER HEADS.

Patented July 5, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. VVRIGHTLOF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DENNIS HOULIHAN, OF SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR PLUGGING SPRINKLER-HEADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,181, dated July 5, 1892. Application filed April 22,1892. Serial No. 430,197. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

- fully described and represented in the following specification andthe accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to the sprinklerheads which are arranged within buildings to automatically discharge a spray of water in case of fire within the apartment where the sprinkler-head is located.

The invention is intended to furnish a means of plugging up a sprinkler-head when its valve is accidentally dislodged and the water is unnecessarily discharged to the detriment of the building or of any goods in the vicinity. As the sprinkler-heads are supplied with water from a common source, it is not possible to shut off the water from a single head in case the valve is accidentally displaced, and considerable injury frequently arises from the flow of Water which results from such an accident.

The present invention consists inanew article of manufacture in the form of an attachment for application to sprinkler-heads and adapted to promptly plug the aperture of the sprinkler-head, and thus stop the escape of water and any injury to the building or property that might result therefrom. This attachment consists in a plug, a handle attached thereto, and an abutment opposed to the plug for engagement with the arch of the sprinkler-head.

Two forms of the apparatus are shown in the annexed drawings and others may be devised to embody the invention.

Figure 1 shows the sprinkler-head in section, with the plug and handle shown in their operative position in full lines and a representation in dotted lines of the position in which the attachment is first applied to the sprinkler-head. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan of the attachment. Fig. 3 is an end view of the attachment engaged with the sprinkler-head, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the sprinklerhead with the attachment in a modified form.

a is the screw by which the sprinkler-head is usually attached to the pipe connections,

and b the holder for the valve-seat, which latter is shown in Fig. l as a flexible diaphragm c with central aperture 0.

(Z is the arch, provided at its bottom with a seat cl against which the ordinary valve-fixtures are pressed to hold them normally in place. 'The valve and its fixture are omitted from the drawings to show the use of the attachment when such valve is accidentally 5o displaced.

e is the plug applied to the water-aperture c, and f a handle connected with the plug'by a shank 9, upon which the plug is secured by a screw-thread. The plug is shown as a ball,

which may be made of brass, india-rubber, or

any other. suitable material, and is fitted to the shank by a screw-thread, the shank projecting upon one side of the handle and the handle opposite to the shank being provided with an abutment h, adapted to engage the seat (1 within the arch d.

The abutment shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 consists in a curved rib slightly eccentric to the center of the plug 6.

The device thus constructed is applied, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, by placing the ball or plug upon the aperture 0' and crowding the abutment against the seat 02, the movement of the handle downward into the position shown in full lines operating by the eccentricity of the abutment to jam the plug firmly against the seat. The plug has a taper point e to guide it into the aperture 0'. The edge of the rib which forms the abutment is shown with a series of small steps or teeth 71 adapted to slip in succession over the seat cl and to lock therewith when the plug is crowded to the utmost degree in the aperture. The screw-thread upon the shank g 0 furnishes the means of adjusting the plug to and from the abutment, and the attachment is thus adapted for use with sprinkler-heads which may vary in dimensions.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 differs 5 from that shown in Fig. 1 in having the abutment formed at the end of the arm 72/, which is pivoted to the handle f'adjacent to the shank g, thus forming with the shank a toggle which operates when the plug is placed :00

upon the valve-aperture and the handle presseddownward to crowd the plugforcibly into the aperture,as desired. To hold the arm h in a convenient position for inserting the plug and the abutment within the sprinklerhead, a spring 7; is provided to bend the arm, and a stop j is also provided to arrest the movement of the handle by contact with the arm h when the toggle is straightened.

The attachment above described forms a new article of manufacture which is adapted for use with many styles of sprinkler-heads and is exceedingly useful in promptly arrestin g the How of waterfromsuch sprinkler-heads when the valve is accidentally displaced.

It is obvious that a great variety of mechanical means may be used to engage the arch (Z and force the plug into the valve-aperture c, r as any agency would be efiective which thrusts the plug toward the valve-aperture,

and is provided with a handle or support for applying the same. I do not, therefore, limit my invention to any particular construction for such means.

\Vhat I have termed the abutment of my device may be formed to press outwardly against any part of the arch d, so as to thrust the plug into the aperture 0, and it is not, therefore, essential that the abutmentshould press directly upon the seat 01.

tached to the opposite side of the handle, substantially as set forth.

3. The attachment for plugging sprinklerheads, consisting in the handle f, the screwshank g, the plug e, screwed thereon, and the eccentric abutment It, provided with the series of steps if, arranged substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. \VRIGI-I'l.

\Vitnesses:

DENNIS HOULIHAN, HENRY J. MILLER. 

